7-11 does Domo

Domo, the Japanese stop-action character and meme celebrity, is appearing this fall in an elaborate 7-Eleven storewide promotion, and his toothy brown face is plastered on everything imaginable. Tons of signage of all over, collectible Slurpee cups (and Domo's own custom flavor, Fuji Frost), character straws, coffee cups, and some truly inventive and funny packaging design for the hot dog containers. There's even Domo schwag like hats, t-shirts, and books. Evan Brody, the marketing manager for Slurpee, told Brandweek that 7-Eleven's consumers "love crazy Japanese shit."

Anagrama

Anagrama are a specialized brand development and positioning agency providing creative solutions for any type of project.

Helvetica!

On a recent visit to London's Design Museum [which if you're ever planning on visiting, don't. Save your £8.50 and go to the gift shop instead], a friend of mine and I agreed that the only thing remotely exciting about the museum were the stark white walls with occasional directions painted in gigantic, Helvetican text. "WOMEN'S" was definitely a fave, as was "EXIT".

Even though that was the most exciting part about the museum, I couldn't help but feel that that was also the most dated. Negative space has been huge in graphic design across the last 10 years; minimalist styles always seem to go hand in hand with some sort of Helvetica Bold / Helvetica Neue / Helvetica Neue Black Condensed / Neue Bold Condensed combo. Helvetica essentially is the Starbucks of the font families. Uber trendy, functional and would probably own a home in the Beaches if it could afford one, you can order your Venti Helvetica Neue Ultra Light, and bold it if you're feeling a little bit on the gluttonous side. But one has to ask, with over fifty years of use, when will Helvetica be done with being the trendy trend?

So far there are no signs of the font slowing down [the signs written in Helvetica themselves], so we might as well give in to the celebration. Our own TA2 logo is in Helvetica [shames, shames], I've also named my first born after the font*, and the truth is is that there just ain't a font out there as purty.

* I'm lying a terrible lie, but Helvetica Fletcher does have a certain ring to it.



So here goes the celebration of Helvetica! Because without it, the Design Museum would just have white walls [which wouldn't be a bad thing, considering the rest of their exhibits]:



Lars Muller's 2005 book on the typeface showcases over 400 uses of the font. For more info, click here.



Gary Hustwit's feature length documentary coincided with the 50th anniversary of the font in 2007. Learn more here.


Photo of the Design Museum from The Curated Object.

I Spy With My Little Eye...

Something that begins with "C":


Cossette's campaign for McDonald's Free Coffee is seeing gigantic steaming coffee cups pop up all over Toronto's city centre. This one was spotted at Dundas Square on April 13th. The reason? McDonald's is going to be giving out free Premuim Roast coffee between April 20th - May 3rd to all who visit during breakfast hours [5 AM - 10:30 AM]. It's FREE and improved! No more McDonald's Coffee Tears shed, yippee!

Image by graphicmatt on Flickr.

Pepsi Punk'd!

Lawrence Yang has re-imagined the new Pepsi logo. It's pretty genius! Please check out his other work on his blog: blow at life.